Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Literature Part 13

HIDE AND SEEK

(Third Reader, page 50)

AIM

To lead the pupils to appreciate the exquisite music of the language and the pathos of the story.

PRESENTATION

What does the poem describe? It describes a father's love for his son.

There are two distinct parts. What does each part describe? The first two stanzas describe a game of "Hide and Seek" between the father and the boy, and the last two, the father's intense longing for the boy whom he has lost.

What kind of day is described in the first stanza? A bright and calm June day.

What things suggest this? Sleeping trees, still winds, wandering clouds, "noonday silence".

What does the writer represent the trees and the winds to be? Persons--the trees having the ability to sleep, and the winds to move or keep still. This is called personification.

What are "fleecy clouds"? Clouds that are white and downy.

The poet speaks of them as "flocks". What is the comparison intended? The comparison of the clouds to flocks of white sheep that, instead of wandering across a meadow, are wandering across the sky.

What does the word "wandered" suggest? That the clouds are moving along slowly and leisurely without any purpose in view. They are doing this because the "winds are still".

What is meant by saying that they "Have wandered past the hill"? They have gone below the horizon at the hilltop and cannot be seen.

The sky is thus clear of clouds.

What causes "the noonday silence"? The heat of the mid-day has silenced even the songs of the birds. Compare Keats:

When all the birds are faint with the hot sun And hide in cooling trees.

How is the silence broken? By the voice of the little boy hunting for his father.

What do the words of the tune he is singing const.i.tute? The rules of the game. The one hiding must respond "Coo-ee" each time the one searching calls.

Where is his father? In a "leafy nook" in the woods.

What does the question "Shall I let him pa.s.s?"

seem to indicate? That his father hesitates for a moment to reveal himself.

What does he do, however? He gives the boy the signal--a "low, soft whistle". He cannot "let him pa.s.s".

What is shown in the last long line of the stanza? That the man enters into the spirit of the game with the same zest as the boy.

What feeling exists between the two? A feeling of perfect good-fellowship and affection.

Explain, "you're it". Your turn to hunt, mine to hide.

What further rules of the game are given here?

(Every boy and girl will know these.)

What change in feeling is there between the first two stanzas and the last two? A sudden transition from gaiety and light-heartedness to sorrow.

What has happened? The boy is dead.

Why is "Long ago" repeated? It emphasizes the idea and adds to the pathos of the line. The time has seemed long because of the intensity of the father's grief. Happiness makes time pa.s.s quickly, not so grief.

How does the poet suggest the idea that the game is still being continued though it is now an inexpressibly sad one? He speaks of the boy as having left his father as if to hide, of his father as seeking him "high and low", of his being safely "hidden" "in some pleasant place", of the father as being unable to hear his "Coo-ee".

What is really meant by seeking him "high and low"? The thought of his boy is ever with him.

He unconsciously looks for his face wherever he goes.

What is the "pleasant place"? Paradise.

How could you describe the short lines, "Far away", etc., down to the end of the stanza? As the call of a broken heart to the boy.

Where is the idea contained in "Far away"

expressed before? In "Hidden safe and happy in some pleasant place".

And where is the thought, "Many a day", repeated? "Long ago he left me, long and long ago."

How is the father continually reminded of his boy? By the "Birds" and "Flowers"--everything that he loved is charged with memories of him.

What light is thrown upon the little fellow's interests? He loved the out-of-doors, the things of nature.

What ray of sunshine breaks through the clouds of the father's grief? The conviction that his boy "is waiting" for him till he comes.

What is the meaning of the line, "Love may hide itself", etc.? The little boy's love may for the moment be hidden, but it is everlasting.

The father's love is likewise everlasting. This is sufficient ground for believing that they will some day be united.

The reading of this poem by the pupils will show whether they feel its joy, its sadness, and its hope.

AN APPLE ORCHARD IN THE SPRING

(Third Reader, page 60)

AIM

To lead the pupils to appreciate the beauty of an apple orchard in the spring and the music of the language used in describing it.

PREPARATION